Stand up for religious rights: Pompeo
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said here on Wednesday that it was necessary to speak strongly in favour of freedom of religion. Delivering a major policy speech at the end of his visit to India, Mr. Pompeo emphasised the rule of law and importance of civil society that would allow Indians to “flourish”.
“India is the birthplace for four major world religions. Let’s stand up together for defence of religious freedom for all. Let’s speak up strongly together in favour of those rights. For whenever we do compromise those rights, the world is worse off,” he said at the speech delivered at the India International Centre here.
Rahul Gandhi rejects appeals to stay on as Congress president
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday rejected the pleas made by his fellow Lok Sabha members to stay on as the party chief.
During a floor strategy meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party, chaired by Sonia Gandhi, in the morning, Tiruchirappalli MP Subburaman Thirunavukkarasar first raised the issue of his leadership and asked him to continue.
The education system needs change, not fine-tuning: Kasturirangan on the draft NEP
“The child’s brain starts developing the day the child enters this world. You have the 0-3 period when it tries to comprehend sound, making a meaning of it, trying to learn the mother tongue, in its own way. There is a traditional way in which a child is taught at home, creating sounds, creating communication in a peculiar way a child will appreciate. These are all part of the training it gets at home. 3-6 years, is the time when the brain grows very fast. By six years, 85% of the brain has already matured. This is a very critical period of learning time. In this period according to how you stimulate appropriate regions of the brain, you will see child [develops different aptitudes] These are all because of differential stimulation the brain receives with respect to the ability to learn from the outside world. This is quite a realistic way in which the brain evolves. The child cannot be blamed for this.”
Govt. to start Jal Shakti Abhiyan for 255 water-stressed districts from July 1
The Centre is set to initiate the Jal Shakti Abhiyan to ramp up rainwater harvesting and conservation efforts in 255 water-stressed districts from July 1, in line with the government’s promise to focus on water.
Though water is a State issue, the campaign would be coordinated by 255 central IAS officers of Joint or Additional Secretary-rank, drawn from ministries as varied as Space, Petroleum and Defence, according to a notification issued by the Department of Personnel and Training on Wednesday. The campaign seems to follow the model of last year’s Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, where central officials monitored the implementation of seven flagship development schemes in 117 aspirational districts across the country.
Freedom for Assam woman wrongly sent to jail as foreigner 3 years ago
Almost three years after she was wrongly arrested, a 59-year-old woman was on Wednesday released from a detention camp for foreigners in western Assam’s Kokrajhar.
Her freedom came less than 24 hours after officials started the process of correcting a clerical error that made a retired teacher in southern Assam a ‘D’, or doubtful voter 22 years ago, thus depriving her of inclusion in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) being updated.
Opinion | Taking firm steps to emancipation
The results of the elections to the 17th Lok Sabha and the scale of the mandate for the Bharatiya Janata Party have made many Muslims in India despondent. But perhaps it is a blessing in disguise.
Since Independence, Muslims have been treated as a vote bank by the Indian National Congress and other so-called secular parties; the community has only been used by the political class with very little having been done for them.
Photo of drowned migrant man, daughter fuels criticism of Trump
A heart-rending photograph of a Salvadoran man and his nearly two-year-old daughter drowned in the Rio Grande River fuelled angry denunciations on Wednesday of the Trump administration's immigration policies.
“Trump is responsible for these deaths,” said Beto O'Rourke, the former Texas congressman who is seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
Sirisena confirms signing death warrants for 4 drug offenders
President Maithripala Sirisena has signed death warrants for four drug offence convicts, lifting a four-decade-long moratorium on capital punishment in Sri Lanka. They will be executed “very soon”, he told reporters on Wednesday.
“I have signed the death warrants of four convicts. They have not yet been informed about it. We don’t want to announce the names yet because that could lead to unrest in prisons,” Mr. Sirisena said. “Once they are informed, it is within their rights to appeal for clemency,” he added, addressing local media heads and foreign media representatives here.
Cash in circulation fell post note ban: FM
Demonetisation, coupled with increased digital transactions and the reduced cash usage in the informal economy, led to a reduction in currency in circulation by ₹3.4 lakh crore, according to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Ms. Sitharaman said that the level of currency in circulation as of May 31, 2019, was significantly lower than what it would have been if demonetisation had not happened.
Classy Azam pilots Pakistan to a crucial win
Babar Azam’s unbeaten century powered Pakistan to a six-wicket win against New Zealand and helped it stay on course for a semifinal berth.
Chasing a target of 238 at Edgbaston on Wednesday, Pakistan rode on Azam’s power-packed innings and Haris Sohail’s 68 to cross the line with five balls to spare.
